The event concludes the Pink October campaign, International Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and looks back at the progress made over the past quarter century.
Queen Mathilde participated on Wednesday in a series of round tables organized in Brussels by the Breast International Group (BIG) association. For its 25th anniversary, this international academic network dedicated to the search for new treatments against breast cancer brought together scientists and patients who contribute to advances in medicine against the pink crab.
“25 years ago we created a global network” which now brings together 10,000 breast cancer specialists and coordinates some 60 research groups linked to several thousand hospitals, began Professor David Cameron, president of BIG. Their objective: to develop appropriate treatments for each patient. “But I regret to tell you that your work is not finished”he addressed an audience of doctors and patients.
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In Belgium, around 11,000 people are affected by breast cancer each year. Globally, approximately 2.3 million people are diagnosed annually. However, research is the only way to understand the disease, its mode of evolution and the reasons for its progression, recalls BIG. On Wednesday, around seventy scientists and patients spread across different tables discussed seven themes. Some focused on advances in immunotherapy, others on metastatic breast cancers that migrate to the brain; some were discussing “clinical tests and climate change” while others evaluated specific populations, such as male patients.
Indeed, if one in eight women risks developing breast cancer during their lifetime, men are not spared either (one in 800). The sovereign, for her part, moved from table to table. His support since 2010 has enabled the network to establish new collaborations in Belgium and abroad, noted Mr. Cameron. As proof, some had traveled on Wednesday from Canada, Brazil, Spain, Australia, Sweden and even Japan.
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